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No. 3 Oregon Ducks try to find their 'edge' to prepare for No. 8 Michigan State

Oregon vs. South Dakota

Oregon Ducks quarterback Marcus Mariota (8) looks to pass against the South Dakota Coyotes on Saturday. He finished 14-of-20 passing with three touchdowns in one half of work.
(Randy L. Rasmussen/The Oregonian)

Nine months after beating Stanford in the Rose Bowl at its own bruising game, the Spartans enter Autzen Stadium on Saturday for a 3:30 p.m. kickoff against No. 3 Oregon that is living up to its hype as one of college football's best non-conference games this season.

After both the Ducks and Spartans won against Football Championship Subdivision teams in openers by a combined score of 107-20, the top-10 matchup will offer a clearer picture into whether each team's College Football Playoff dreams are real or make-believe.

The FCS-level South Dakota Coyotes showed the Ducks a few formations that could be similar to Michigan State, but "when you're talking about similarities they probably end there," UO head coach Mark Helfrich said Sunday.

"(The Spartans) have got marquee players in every phase and certainly we will find out where we are and more importantly, where we're going. Anytime you play a game like this if there's not a little edge to your preparation we have a problem."

The Ducks opened as an 11-point favorite Sunday and are 34-2 at Autzen Stadium since 2009.

Each program will confront its past as well as the actual opponent on Saturday.

The Spartans are trying to show they can handle success. Six times since 1967 Michigan State has started a season ranked in the top-15, only to be unranked by season's end each time.

The Ducks are trying to buck the perception they can't match a physical, old-school style that Stanford has used to defeat them each of the past two seasons. The Spartans run a similar set.

With a much closer game expected than Saturday, when UO led South Dakota 41-13 at halftime, Helfrich doesn't expect to play nearly as many as saw the field in the opener -- 70 Ducks played on offense and defense. He does expect those who do get on the field to show marked improvement, though.

"They'll all fix something whether as a receiver we had some alignment issues just in terms of our spacing, we had some route-spacing issues, had some communication issues on offense," Helfrich said. "Defensively a few missed gaps, we had three freshmen d-linemen in there at one point and two of them were in the wrong gap and that leads to a big play. ... Those are the kind of things that hopefully will lead to substantial, exponential improvement from game to game."

It's not limited to young players alone. Junior All-American quarterback Marcus Mariota had a couple "odd" plays in his 14-of-20 passing performance in just one half of work, but Helfrich praised his work in the second half of coaching teammate on the sideline.

"I thought he did a really good job of directing traffic," Helfrich said.

Helfrich said Oregon's three-back rotation at running back will depend each week on the opponent. Sophomore Thomas Tyner started the opener, with junior Byron Marshall and freshman Royce Freeman entering later. The trio combined for 229 rushing yards and two touchdowns and 157 receiving yards (Marshall had 138 of them) and two touchdowns.

"So much of that will factor into the opponent and what our game plan is as far as perceived strengths against perceived weaknesses and how that stuff fits together," said Helfrich, who added Freeman ran timidly at times, something he expects to change with more experience.

The weekly shuffling isn't limited to the backfield. At kicker, true freshman Aidan Schneider, of Portland's Grant High School, handled kickoffs and point-after attempts Saturday in place of sophomore Matt Wogan, who did both roles last season.

Schneider had 10 kickoffs and two went for touchbacks; he also was 6-for-7 on point-afters, with one blocked attempt.

Wogan was described as Oregon's "no-doubt" kicker in fall camp by special teams coach Tom Osborne, but apparently Schneider and other kickers are making inroads into Wogan's territory there, as well.

"We'll find out, that'll be kind of a weekly decision there," Helfrich said of the place-kicking duties. "We're going to always play the best guy available, in every positional situation for that week, for that game."

The depth chart at several positions remains fluid, Helfrich said, and can still be settled even a few weeks into the season.